Night of Joy 2014 Recap

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”About a month ago I told you that Night of Joy 2014 was just around the corner. My husband and I were blessed to be able to attend Friday night’s event as guests of Walt Disney World. I also attended some media events surrounding the event but I’ll save that for another post. This year we received badges that said “Night of Joy Special Guest”. These badges gave us access to a small area right in front of the Castle Forecourt Stage. These badges were a HUGE blessing as the event was sold out and we were able to get some good pictures and fun video from the castle concerts.

The tricky part about Night of Joy is deciding which concerts to see. For the last few years, they have only used 3 outdoor stages Castle Forecourt, Galaxy and Rocket Tower Plaza. I miss the old days of using Cosmic Ray’s (this year there was a hip hop dance party in there), the Frontierland stage and the old Fantasy Faire stage. Using stages all over the park spreads out the crowds more and makes scheduling a bit easier because the sound from the two Tomorrowland stages bleeds over onto each other when the concert times overlap.

Our original plan was to see Matthew West at the castle at 7:40pm, Building 429 at the Galaxy stage at 8:50pm, catch the end of Chris Tomlin’s 9:20pm concert at the castle, see Mandisa at Galaxy at 10:25pm and For King & Country at Galaxy at 12:10am. We didn’t plan to ride any rides after 7:00pm but we did need to find time to eat dinner at some point.

Our Night of Joy 2014

We arrived at our spot right in front of the castle around 7:00pm for the Matthew West concert. It was raining light but steady. I have never had the opportunity to see Matthew West in concert before so I was really excited about this concert and Matthew didn’t disappoint. He put on a great show and he didn’t let the rain bother him. He came out from under the tent where the band was so that he could get closer to the audience. He shared some of his great songs and some stories, including a little song he wrote about his years performing at Night of Joy and wishing he’d some day make it to the Castle Forecourt Stage. I wish I had recorded it! He was so excited about singing at the castle that he brought his daughters Lulu and Delaney on stage and told them they could sing with him, any song they wanted. Here is a short video of the song they chose. (If you are reading this in your email, click over to the post to see this video)

After Matthew west sang “Hello, My Name Is” we headed to Tomorrowland to find a spot for the Building 429 concert. Building 429 is one of my favorite bands right now and this is the 3rd time I’ve seen them in concert in 11 months! We Won’t Be Shaken by Building 429 is one of my 2 most played albums this year and the crowd at Galaxy Stage loved the entire concert.

Our next stop was for dinner. We headed to Cosmic Ray’s for a quick burger and along the way we could hear a little of Chris Tomlin. I was sad that I missed his concert since I’ve never seen him live but we just couldn’t  make it work.

We arrived back at the Galaxy Stage area at about 9:30pm and the area was already at capacity for the 10:25pm Mandisa concert! There was a long line of people hoping to be allowed in as others filtered out during the show. I hope they give Mandisa  the Castle Forecourt stage next year so more people can see her in concert. We chose to sit on a bench in Tomorrowland where we could hear the end of The Neverclaim’s concert on the Rocket Tower Plaza stage and some of Mandisa’s concert too.

We were tired and my feet were hurting so we made the decision to head back to the castle for the 11:30pm Hillsong United concert instead of getting in line for the For King and Country concert which didn’t start until after midnight. We had a long wait before this concert, but at least it had finally stopped raining! After about 4 songs I just couldn’t stand any longer so we headed out of the park, before they sang Oceans 🙁

Walking down Main Street, USA is where the enormity of the night hit me. The crowd was thick all the way to the Main St. Bakery. There was a screen set up near the Main Street Cinema and some people were watching the live feed of the concert there. It is always amazing to be among thousands of Christians worshiping Jesus at the Magic Kingdom during Night of Joy. We are so thankful that we got to be a part of this uplifting event.